Couple married 75 years say 'give and take' necessary

Norma and Carl Evans, of rural Perry, recently celebrated their 75th anniversary. The couple met at a house dance near Williamstown.

The Evanses received more than 90 cards congratulating them on their 75th anniversary.

Carl and Norma Evans dressed in their wedding attire for a photograph marking their first anniversary.

PERRY — When it comes to making a marriage work, Carl and Norma Evans, of rural Perry, seem to have found the formula for success.

They have been married for 75 years.

“I grew up in this neighborhood,” Carl said, referring to their home north of Williamstown. “My folks owned a little farm near here, and everyone in the area used to have card parties every Saturday night, and later there were house dances.”

“They’d clean out a room in the house,” Norma, whose family lived about a mile east, added. “They usually had someone who could play the fiddle, guitar or banjo. There was always someone who could play the piano. Some homes even had a gramophone.”

It was at one of the gatherings, when they were in high school, that the two first got together.

“We had known of each other even though we went to different schools, but we met at one of those dances,” Norma said, “and we’ve been going to dances ever since.”

So what did the two think of each other at that first meeting?

“She was about the last good-looking woman around here,” Carl said, teasing his wife.

“He was a good dance partner,” Norma said. “He had good rhythm and a head of black, curly hair.”

It wasn’t until after the two graduated from high school that they began to date seriously.

“We didn’t have a car then, so I would ride my horse over to her folks’ house,” Carl said, adding that a typical date might consist of visiting or playing cards.

Finally, after three or four years of dating, Norma said Carl proposed “and I accepted.” The couple married Jan. 25, 1938.

The newlyweds’ first home was about a mile south of the Oak Grove Grade School, about three miles from where they now live. The young couple bought their own home in April 1942.

“It cost $2,000 for the house and 80 acres,” Norma said. “There was a $50 down payment, which we didn’t have. My father was in favor of us buying this place, so he sold oats out of his granary so we could pay for it. I still remember him shoveling oats out of his granary into a wagon.”

In addition to farming and raising hogs on their land, Carl also worked at other jobs — first for the railroad, then 10 years at Hamm Quarries and finally retiring from the Jefferson County Highway Department, where he worked for 15 years.

While Norma seldom worked outside the home, she helped on the farm whenever she was needed.

“After he did the planting, I could take care of it. I learned to do about everything, except raking hay with a side delivery rake,” she said.